


And the Nominees Are...

by jane_fucking_seymour



Category: Six - Marlow/Moss
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-04
Updated: 2020-03-04
Packaged: 2021-02-23 10:29:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,508
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23010070
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jane_fucking_seymour/pseuds/jane_fucking_seymour
Summary: Anna is asked to announce the nominees for an awards show. She kills it, per usual.Just some fluff in celebration of Lexi McIntosh announcing the Olivier nominees for this year, who also killed it per usual.
Comments: 3
Kudos: 53





	And the Nominees Are...

Katherine was staring at the front door of the flat, curled up in a ball on the couch, looking very, very concerned. The newest episode of Love Island has been paused for the past five minutes, but the center of Kat’s attention is at the door that Anna walked through to answer a phone call. It’s weird for Anna to not take a call in front of the other queens, and it’s weirder still that she hasn’t returned.

“Anyone have any idea who Anna is talking to?” she asks, never letting her gaze leave the door. “She doesn’t usually just walk away from our telly time, regardless of what the call is, so it has to be important.”

Anne, across from her on another couch, continued to look at her phone. “No idea, but I’m sure it’s nothing.”

“She left really quickly,” Kat immediately remarks. “It’s got to be something.”

“Bessie’s upstairs with the other ladies,” Catherine says, working on some needlework. “So it can’t be her.”

“Maybe it’s a dog at the shelter?” Cathy suggests, tilting her head as she looks between Kat and the door and back at Kat.

Jane, who had been reading next to Anne, just sighs. “We’ll know as soon as she comes back, love, I doubt it’s anything bad-”

She’s interrupted, however, by the door opening.

Kat immediately scrambles forward, opening the door, where Anne is standing. “Are you alright?” Kat asks, clearly concerned.

Anna chuckles and nods, gently pulling the girl close.

“Queens, I’ve got an announcement to make,” Anna says confidently. The Ladies, having heard commotion, are waiting on the stairs for said announcement.

The others watch carefully as Anna suddenly grins:

“I’m going to be announcing the nominations for an awards show!”

At first, there’s silence.

But then, the entire room bursts into excitement.

“Oh really?!?”

“That’s incredible, Anna.”

“Congrats, babes!”

“That’s really cool!”

“Hell yeah!”

The girls talk over each other, excitedly congratulating Anna and giving her hugs and the like. Eventually, when the excitement dies down a little bit, Katherine is the first to speak.

“Is that who you were on the phone with?” Kat asks, tilting her head.

“Yes,” Anna nods. “I’ll know who the nominations are, I’ll need to practice their pronunciation and the like, and it’ll be streamed online.”

“Oh! Do you need to practice in front of a live studio audience?” Catherine asks, smirking as the rest of the women chuckle.

“No, no, I actually can’t really practice here at all,” Anna says. “They made me sign a NDA so I don’t reveal who is nominated.”

“Rude,” Jane says, “but fair. When’s the announcement?”

“In a week,” Anna replies. “I’ll be jumping from shows to the rehearsals to make sure I get this right.”

“Well, we’re all very proud of you, Anna,” Cathy says, “and if there’s anything we can do to help, let us know, yeah?”

Anna nods with a grin. “Thank you. All of you.”

The week is a blur for the rest of the queens, who rarely see Anna. She’s often got a list that she’s pouring over, mouthing words to herself to make sure she understands the pronunciations. The other queens keep to themselves mostly, and before they know it, it’s the day before the event.

Katherine and Cathy wander on into the living room, unexpectedly interrupting a mini rehearsal session that Anna was doing.

When Anna spots them, she instantly scrambles to hide the papers she has, making Cathy chuckle.

“You know you’re going to do fine, right?” Cathy asks.

“More than fine,” Katherine says, “she’ll be brilliant!”

Anna gives a small smile. “I know, I just… I don’t want to get this wrong, you know?” she looks down at the papers; they’ve got the actual spelling, but also a phonetic spelling that Anna’s written in herself. “English isn’t my first language, and I’m always afraid I’ll mispronounce something. I don’t want to be wrong, you know? There will be a lot of people watching - apparently it could be thousands of people.”

Katherine frowns, instantly moving to hug Anna. “I’m sorry we’re not allowed to go with you, otherwise we would absolutely be there to give you support-”

“No, no, I get it, and it’s not your fault they aren’t allowing me a plus one,” Anna says, gently booping Kat’s nose. “Otherwise, I know you’d be there. I guess I’m just a bit nervous because it’s not something I’ve ever really done before…” 

Cathy tilts her head. “But you do it every night, you know? And you sing, too. In heels. This doesn’t require any dancing, right?”

Anna chuckles. “No, but that’d be really funny. Could you imagine, doing Ex-Wives but with nominations?”

Cathy smiles a bit at that. “See? You’ve done more hectic things before, you’ll be alright.”

“And they’re not even requiring you to wear heels, right?” Kat asks, and Anna nods. “It’ll be easy!”

“I guess the lack of audience is nice, too,” Anna says, “but there’s a big camera and lights…” Anna sighs. “Sorry. It’s just… different than usual.”

Katherine hugs Anna tighter. “You’re gonna be alright. I promise you, Anna. You’re the best of us, you’ll ace it for sure.”

Cathy nods. “With how much you’ve been preparing, I’ve no doubt that you’ll be the best announcer there.”

“Well, there’s only two of us-” Anna starts, but Cathy rolls her eyes with a smile.

“You know what I mean, missy.”

Anna nods, a grin growing on her face. “Thank you, loves. I mean it.” She lets Kat hold her for a moment more before she gently pulls away. “Now go on then, I need to practice and you can’t be here.”

Katherine pouts. “Just a little spoiler? Please?”

Anna laughs. “Not a chance, Kit. Go on, go with Cathy upstairs, I’ll see you lot tomorrow. It’s past your bedtime.”

Katherine groans, but she moves with Cathy upstairs. Cathy gives Anna a final nod - which Anna returns - before Cathy retires for the evening, Kat in tow. Anna looks down at the lists, smiles, and goes back to rehearsing.

The next morning, Anna wakes up relatively early. Grabbing her folders and her outfit, she gets changed into something comfortable before heading downstairs.

She smiles when she finds that her breakfast has already been made, a heart-shaped pancake and various fruits.

There’s also a card right next to the breakfast, with everyone’s well wishes. The girls were already off to the morning matinee, but they left Anna a good luck meal to help calm her nerves.

Anna chuckles; what did she do to deserve them?

She gets herself ready, heading out to the limo that the awards show arranged to pick her up, and is whisked away to the studio.

When she gets there, her co-announcer, Henry, smiles brightly at her.

“Good morning!” he says as Anna hugs him hello. “Are you ready?”

“I think so,” Anna says with a nod. “Been practicing the names all week.”

“You’re going to do splendid, Anna,” he says. He’s not from the country either, and they bonded a bit over having to learn English as a second language. “We’ll be the best announcers the show’s ever seen.”

Anna nods, liking the confidence he has, and they move inside. Anna’s dressing room is a door down from his, and it’s bigger than the one for the show. It’s decked out in flowers and goodie bags and other lavish items, and Anna smiles at the small ring of red roses that is clearly from a few fans.

As she gets dressed into her dark red suit, she can’t help but start to feel nervous. She tries to combat the intruding thoughts with logic: if she messes up, she just says it correctly. If she stumbles to the podium, she just recovers. If she says the wrong name, she apologizes and corrects herself. She knows what she has to do and how she can recover if things go wrong, but she can’t help but worry.

She takes a deep breath and moves to the makeup department, which gets her outfit covered before they start with the makeup process. The women working there help calm her down a bit.

“Just a bit worried that I’ll mess things up,” Anna admits softly, eyes closed as eyeshadow is applied.

“I’ve seen your show, you know,” the makeup artist says, “and you’ve killed it each time. You’re going to do just fine, Anna.”

Anna nods, looking down at her notes when she has the chance, a deep breath as she continues to pour over the more intricate names on the cards.

It’s ten minutes to showtime and both she and Henry are waiting for the stream to go live. Just as she’s about to turn off her phone, she gets a barrage of texts from the Queen and Ladies in Waiting group chat: they’re all supportive, they love her, and they cannot wait to see her shine. Her tweeting out the link also brought about many a good wish and excitement. 

People are excited to see her and are excited to watch her do this.

It’s a comforting thought.

“We’re live in two minutes!” says the stage manager, and with a final “love you all and thank you” to the queens and ladies, Anna turns off her phone.

“One minute!”

Anna straightens out her bowtie, taking a deep breath.

“Thirty seconds!”

She and Henry nod at each other, smile, and look forward.

“Ten!”

She straightens up.

“Five!”

She looks straight at the prompter.

“Four, three, two-”

The light above the camera goes red. They’re live.

“Hello, and welcome to the nominations ceremony,” Henry says. “I’m Henry.”

“And I’m Anna,” Anna says confidently.

“And we’re here,” Henry continues. “to announce this year’s nominees.” He looks over at Anna. “You know, Anna, I’m honored to be here with you tonight to show off the best talent of the year.”

“I must say,” Anna replies, smiling back. “that you’re the best Henry I’ve ever had the pleasure of having company with.”

They laugh - it’s still a funny joke, even to them - and Henry and Anna turn back to the camera.

“I’m glad to hear it,” Henry says. “And on that note, let’s get to it then, shall we?”

The announcements go well - they go back and forth with the categories, rattling off the names and their productions, wait a moment, and rinse and repeat. There’s no audience, and the studio itself is actually fairly small, so after a few categories Anna feels like it’s just her, Henry, the stage manager and that’s it. The quiet of the room is a comfort, really, and Anna is thankful for it.

It takes about twenty minutes to rattle off all the categories. Once they’re done, Anna has the privledge of signing off the broadcast.

“That concludes our nominations ceremony,” Anna says with a smile. “I’m Anna,”

“And I’m Henry,” Henry says.

“And we thank you for watching. Have a good night and once again, congratulations to all nominees.”

The red light slowly fades out, and Anna and Henry are left standing there smiling at the camera.

“And… we’re out!” the stage manager says. “Nice job, you two, that went really well.”

Anna let out a breath she didn’t realize she was holding and instantly laughs, hugging Henry when he offers. 

“Brilliant job, Anna!” Henry says.

“You as well,” Anna replies with a grin. “That was a lot of fun, actually. I’m glad it went well.”

They chat for a bit more, taking a selfie or two together to post on social media, before Anna is brought back to her dressing room. She takes off as much makeup as she can, goes back into her more comfortable clothes, then gets into the limo waiting to take her back home.

It’s then that she turns on her phone… and is delighted to see that people both loved the ceremony but also her outfit. A lot of “#goals” are on tweets and insta posts, and she has to laugh at the very positive reactions. Most of all, however, people loved her and Henry together (something she never thought she’d hear again, to be honest) and everyone seemed to be really impressed with her.

As soon as she gets out of the limo and opens the door to the flat, she puts her things down fast and braces herself. Her instincts are well founded: she’s instantly tackled by a blur of pink-tipped hair, who hugs her as tightly as possible.

“That was brilliant, Anna!” Kat says, followed shortly by Bessie, who hugs her queen tightly. The rest of the group is just behind, excitedly congratulating Anna on a job well done. There’s even a cake to commemorate the event.

When everyone’s calmed down a few hours later, Katherine is asleep in Anna’s lap as Catherine and Anna watch television.

“You really did well today, Anna,” Catherine says with a grin. 

“I really liked doing it, to be honest,” Anna said. “I wasn’t sure how people were going to react to it just being me, but… I really liked it.”

“Of course they loved you, you’re incredible,” Catherine assures.

“I know that,” Anna quips, “but I was afraid…” she frowns, looking down at Katherine, who is fast asleep. “Well, honestly, I was afraid that people wouldn’t want to tune in because it was just me.”

Catherine frowns at that. “Anna-”

“I know what you’re going to say, Catherine, but the truth is… I’m not the most popular out there. I know that.” Anna sighs. “I’ve seen the bad messages, the people being rude, the trolls, I just… was afraid that they were going to overwhelm this.”

“There’s no way-” Catherine continues, but Anna cuts her off.

“Logically, I know that,” Anna replies. “But I couldn’t help but worry. And then, if I got something wrong, or if I mispronounced a name, I thought I’d be done for.” Anna shrugs. “That’s why I was practicing so much. I didn’t want to let anyone down, and I didn’t want to give the trolls an opening.”

Catherine moves to Anna then, and Anna puts her head on Catherine’s shoulder. She’s still gently rubbing up and down Kat’s arm soothingly, keeping the girl asleep, as Catherine continues.

“I’m sorry they’re so bad, babes. I wish you would have told us before this,” Catherine says quietly. “But you were brilliant, and everyone loved you. You’re one of the best public speakers I know, honestly, and I think you did better than Henry.”

Anna smiles at that, so Catherine continues.

“You were incredible, babes. Don’t sell yourself short. You really knocked it out of the park.”

Anna sighs, relaxing a bit into Catherine, and keeps her close.

“Thank you.”

“I didn’t do anything, you know,” Catherine quips. “This was all you. You’re the reason you killed it. I’m proud of you.”

Anna wrapped an arm around Catherine’s shoulders, and she gently kissed the girl’s cheek.

“Dunno what I’d do without you lot,” Anna mumbles. “But I’m glad you’re all here.”

Catherine smiles.

“Always.”


End file.
